After being in Amish country (Elkhart, Shipshewana and Goshen since July 2, we pulled out of our site at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds just a few minutes after 9:00 am EST, 2 months after arriving in the area. I was actually ready to head down the road for a change of scenery. But, we’ll be back September 17th for one final rally in the area.
Ahhhh….nice quite country lane drive on a Sunday morning.
We chose to take ‘back roads’ rather than going through Gary, IN/Chicago, IL area which put about 20 more miles on our journey but it was well worth it. I love the back roads. So much more peaceful and better views.
Soy beans!
We were surrounded by cornfields and beans…however we weren’t quite sure what kind of beans we were seeing. We kinda figured they were soy beans but weren’t sure. At one point Michael stopped by the side of the road so I could get out and look. No one but us were on the road…so why not! Mystery solved…soy beans!
Pretty packed when we arrived
We arrived at the Illinois State Fairgrounds about 4:00 pm CST, just as a big motorcycle race finished up at the fairgrounds. The park was pretty full but the guy at the office told us if we didn’t mind waiting about 30 minutes or so the place would clear out pretty quickly. It didn’t clear out as fast as he said but it did clear out and he found us a site about 30 minutes in.
Illinois State Fairgrounds – site A24
I’d forgotten that the sites were pretty sloped but Mikey used the Level Up to manually level out the coach as best as he could and we retired inside to the air conditioning. Michael went out in shifts to hook up the water and satellite dish as it was in the low 90s.
Monday we enjoyed the Labor Day holiday by not laboring. We opted to go to see ‘Mama Mia, Here We Go Again’ at one of the theaters in Springfield.
The place cleared out quite a bit overnight!
After the movie we planned to tried one of the local favorites, D’arcy’s Pint. The last time we were here we went to Charlie Parker’s for their famous horseshoes. (Read about that visit HERE)
Unfortunately, D’arcy’s Pint was closed for Labor Day so we ended up at The Dublin Pub…just down the road.
While Charlie Parker’s serves more of a diner style menu (with horseshoes, of course) The Dublin Pub is a bit more eclectic serving burgers, steaks, taco salads, Irish fare, and of course the all important horseshoe (or ponyshoe for the smaller appetite).
Pot Roast Ponyshoe
While at Charlie Parker’s we both ordered the horseshoes…this time I went with another horseshoe (ponyshoe actually). Last time I had the traditional way…with ham. This time I opted to switch it up and went with a Pot Roast Ponyshoe. It was very good – mild cheese sauce, tasty pot roast, onions, carrots and crispy fries.
Shepherd’s Pie
Last time Michael went with a hamburger horseshoe…this time he stuck with hamburger but switched it up a bit with an order of Shepherd’s Pie. Michael is a ground beef lover and his choice didn’t disappoint. He enjoyed it so much he was still talking about it on the way home!
The horse caved when they offered her hay!
Back at the fairgrounds we decided to take a quick trip around the fairgrounds and happened upon a man trying to load a horse into a trailer. The horse wanted NOTHING to do with getting into that tin can and resisted the man’s attempts. A man in a car in front of us got out of his car and sweet talked the horse into calming down a bit. Then another man came out of nowhere with a bunch of hay and slowing walked the horse into the trailer. Nice job!
Funny thing…when we first happened upon the scene, Michael’s first words were, ‘Get some hay’. I married a wise man! 
Tuesday it was back to the grind. We enjoyed a nice quiet weekend and we ready to tackle the world! Since we had nowhere to go I enjoyed a jammie day…nice to work from home and be able to do that! We both were able to get caught up with our emails fairly easily and Michael’s phone didn’t ring off the hook…but it did ring!
Just about 5:00 pm our power went out and just a few minutes after it went out we had a knock at the door. The park manager was here to tell us that our power was going to be shut off…for a couple of hours. Mind you it was 95 degrees outside. Luckily we have a generator and it kept us cozy for 3 hours before the power was restored. Whew!
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we are back on the road headed to Ozark, Missouri for a few days. Mostly we’ll chill but we do have tickets for show in Branson – let’s just hope we don’t forget!